Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2012 11:24 am Post subject:
Keyboard for DIY synth?Subject description: What keyboard should I look to salvage for a DIY synth I plan to build?

I'm very new to synth building and I was wondering what kind of keyboard should I look to salvage for an analog synth I was planning to build? Would a cheap Yamaha keyboard work or should I look for a organ? If you have any links to videos that would be great.

I'm sure I've seen a lot of identical resistors... but I don't have this keyboard anymore. It may have a diode / resistor mix inside the keyboard (for note polyphony and mono velocity ? ) can you check inside ?

If anyone has any experience or advice for turning something like this into a CV controller then please let me know if there is a write up, video or thread floating around somewhere. I don't plan on getting to it anytime soon, but it would be nice to have some notes from someone who did it for when I do get around to doing it._________________JacobWatters.com

All matrix KBs will have a diode for each switch. Clip out the diodes or *cut the ends that connect to each switch, bend the diodes up, and solder the resistors of your "string" to the stubs. Wire all the groups of switches together and that becomes the single buss.

There are at least two variations of where the diodes are located in relation to the switches;Attached I show both. The method of alteration will be the same. The "groups" might be of eight keys, 12(+1) for octaves, or six(+1) for half-octaves. Yamaha and Casio are (in)famous for devising odd-ball groupings. Fatar's 2-switch per key (make and break,) KBs will be a little more trouble. Clipping/cutting should be done at the "make" switches.

Good luck dealing with any switch resistance.

By no means is all this intended to be an endorsement of finicky, resistor string voltage divider and droopy sample & hold single-buss designs.

I happen to like my finicky, resistor string voltage divider and droopy sample & hold single-buss keyboards, of which none are finicky or have droopy sample and holds, once they are tuned and scaled, they stay that way.
Actually, most cv keyboards are dual buss, one for CV and one for the Gate, (my ribbon controller design is a single buss, and it works fine) which is why these cheap Fatar keyboards are perfect for conversion.

hello, I figured I'd ask in this thread instead of making new one. I'd like to add primitive CV/gate output to my little Casio keyboard for controlling the filter and gating the ADSR module. Do you have any tips on how to add switches activating CV and Gate to an existing keyboard? Microswitch on each key? The circuit would be separate from the Casio, only the keys would be common.

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